By Lori Gottlieb — 2020
In the months before my father died, I asked him a version of that question: How will I live without you?
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CLEAR ALL
This is what it looks like when you grieve the death of an estranged parent. It’s this surreal thing, where everyone expects you to feel something—yet you don’t. For me, it didn’t feel like I lost a parent, or a loved one, or even a close friend. It felt like I’d lost what could have been.
Throughout his profound spiritual awakening, the great Tibetan yogi Shabkar experienced immense loss resulting in grief marked by raw pain, a sense of disorientation, sadness, and tears.
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"But now we’re asked — and sometimes forced — to carry grief as a solitary burden. And the psyche knows we are not capable of handling grief in isolation." - Francis Weller
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Instead of the routine, "Your mother’s fine; we’re calling to inform you about…” this time the nurse said, “Your mother has stopped eating. - Sabina Nawaz
Losing a parent is among the most emotionally difficult and universal of human experiences. Most people will experience the loss of their mother or father in their lifetime.
Delayed grief is sometimes triggered by an event later in life, experts say.
The death of a parent can send shock waves through your self-perception and reposition the mental space you occupy on the planet. The grief can be life changing.
For most of us, our parents serve as elements of safety and stability, a constant amidst the flux of everyday life. When they die, we lose a tangible piece of that security, which can leave us feeling extremely off balance—even if we knew it was coming due to a long-term illness or extreme old age.
No matter what you say to someone whose parent or loved one died, it should be derivative of the same goal: communicating empathy and offering assistance, understanding what a person might need from you, and knowing how to phrase sentiments the right way.
It’s hard to know what to say to a friend who is grieving. Here’s what you should keep in mind.